Alaska Governor Sean Parnell is urging recently-confirmed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to push ahead with exploration of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Parnell presented Secretary Jewell with a 187-page proposal for a seven-year program to conduct seismic surveys of ANWR area 1002, which would help to better define the area’s oil and gas potential.… Keep reading →
By Javier E. David Imagine a world where leftover corn, wheat and wood chips can be used to power your car. That’s the aim of cellulosic ethanol, a budding sector of the renewable fuel industry that finds itself struggling to reassert itself in a world of renewed popularity for oil and gas. The process aims… Keep reading →
The big news in US energy on Friday was the Department of Energy’s decision to grant Freeport LNG a license to export domestically-produced gas to countries with which the US does not have a free-trade agreement. Freeport is the second US LNG export project to obtain non-FTA export approval. New approvals had been on hold since… Keep reading →
DOE launched H2USA to develop hydrogen fuel infrastructure, advance fuel cell electric vehicles, and diversify the transportation energy portfolio. On May 13, 2013, the Department of Energy (DOE) launched H2USA, a public-private partnership to advance hydrogen infrastructure, increase affordability of fuel cell electric vehicles, and provide more energy options for the transportation sector. The partnership includes stakeholders from… Keep reading →
Hayward steps in as interim Glencore chairman Former BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward is will serve as interim board chairman at mining behemoth Glencore Xstrata until a replacement can be found. Hayward was head of BP at the time of the Deepwater Horizon incident – a rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010… Keep reading →
The FRAC Act is reintroduced to implement federal level regulations to protect groundwater resources from potential risks associated with hydraulic fracturing. On May 9, 2013, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Rep. Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.) reintroduced the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, a bill first proposed by DeGette in 2008. The 2013 version signifies a… Keep reading →
The US took the number two spot on the Revenue Watch Institute’s 2013 Resource Governance Index, which ranks governance quality in 58 countries’ oil, gas and mining sectors. Norway performed best of the countries surveyed, with a 98. Myanmar came in last place, earning a 4. The country was barely beat out by Turkmenistan, which… Keep reading →
A proxy battle between activist investor Carl Icahn and Transocean – the world’s largest offshore driller, and owner and operator of the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 – comes to a head today at the company’s annual shareholders meeting. The dispute comes down to control… Keep reading →
Proponents of a “commercial maturity test” for LNG export projects suggest that it could help to bridge the gap between those who support and those who oppose allowing the market to determine how much natural gas the US will sell abroad. But changing the rules mid-stream could give some project developers an edge, and even… Keep reading →
